CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Miles J. Stanford

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ6851428 ↗
Source-derived summary

Miles J. Stanford (January 4, 1914 – September 21, 1999) was an American Christian author best known for his classic collection on spirituality, The Green Letters, published in 1964.

Biography

Born in 1914 in Wheaton, Illinois, and with little or no Sunday school background, his early life centered around baseball, golf, and alcohol to excess.

On September 19, 1940, Stanford became a [believer] and after that began studying the Bible eight to ten hours daily. He joined the US Army Engineers in 1942 and served overseas as a cartographer for a year in England and nearly two years in Germany. During this time he developed an ongoing correspondence with other Christians so that in late 1945, when he was discharged from the Army, he was writing to nearly 200 people.

From 1946 to 1955, his study and correspondence continued to expand. In 1951, he met and married Cornelia de Villiers Schwab in Brooklyn, New York. Cornelia shared a similar desire for personal growth and to help other Christians develop spiritually. Subsequently, Miles and Cornelia moved to Warrenville, Illinois and assumed heavy responsibilities in a local Bible church, Pleasant Hill Community Church. The correspondence rapidly expanded during the next seven years.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Miles J. Stanford” as american writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Miles, Stanford and American.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1914, 1999, 1964, 1940—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1914-01-04. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Miles, Stanford and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Miles J. Stanford”, the useful work is to connect “american writer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6851428. VIAF identifies the subject as 163994802. The Library of Congress control number is n50023251. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914, 1999, 1964 and 1940.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Miles J. Stanford”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Miles J. Stanford primary sources, Miles J. Stanford archive and Miles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Miles J. Stanford”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Miles J. Stanford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.